Off the Wire

Who Is This Jesus?

A parenthesis from my discussion on evangelism and apologetics. My wife and I were talking with a fellow the other day who told us he was a member of his curch council. He proceeded to tell us all the things that he wish were true – that all things would be made right if scientists could just find a gene that would explain homosexuality as being genetic, that he can’t believe people who say a woman should not be a pastor, and some other things that were somewhat offensive. With the band playing fantastically loud at the reception, I didn’t think it was time to enter into a debate with this fellow.
As we drove home, my wife gently reminded me that a debate was not needed. Rather, we needed to share the Gospel with this fellow. Before you retort that I am a bigot, believing this fellow was not a Christian merely because we disagreed on points of doctrine, let me explain. The reason we needed to share the Gospel with this fellow did not have to do, necessarily, with his convictions. Rather, it was clear that this man had not read the Scriptures. He had adopted a lot of emotional arguments with no foundation in the Bible. What is further, he needed to hear the Gospel as much as a I needed to hear the Gospel at the moment I wanted to debate this fellow for the sake of argument. The Gospel is what saves and converts the eyes to see. The Gospel is what gives us a devotion to God’s Word so that we read it and will be changed under its truth.
What is more, we needed to share the Gospel, and we needed to challenge him to give us biblical reasons why he was making such claims. You see this is where the balm and the wound must be given. This is called offense in apologetics.

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Comments 3

Well, he may in fact be very familiar with Scripture. Whether he is or not, there is no shortage of liberal-leaning pastors and theologians in every denomination and I’m sure they’re all very knowledgeable about Scripture. But I think you’re right about the emotional aspect. No matter how intelligent or knowledgeable, some people will insist that what they want to be true must be true. FWIW, I think liberal Christians have some pretty good arguments, so it’s not like they’re coming totally out of left field, but I remain unconvinced.

So, the reason I stopped by was to send you a link to the Pope’s address to the World Baptist Alliance. Nothing particularly ground-breaking, but found it a good reminder of the important stuff we have in common.

From your post:
“What is further, he needed to hear the Gospel as much as a I needed to hear the Gospel at the moment I wanted to debate this fellow for the sake of argument.”

Thank you for this reminder. I entered into a lengthy debate with a co-worker yesterday and failed in this respect, I just wanted to win. The desire to debate seems to be a common trait in those who are more theologically/academically focused, why do you think that is?